* Admin Promotes Overhaul of Financial Regulation * US Foreclosures Break Monthly Record * Watchdog: Gov’t Program Failing to Rescue Struggling Homeowners * JPMorgan Chase Posts $3.3B Quarterly Profit * As Contractors Outnumber Soldiers in Afghanistan, Deaths Grow * Lawmakers Introduce Measure for Afghan Withdrawal * McCain: "Pull the Trigger" on Iran Sanctions * Israel Rejects Call to Sign NPT * West Bank Mosque Vandalized * Brazilian Court Delays Bidding on Belo Monte Dam * Gates Visits Latin American Military Allies * Colombians File Class-Action Suit Against Chiquita * W. Va. Gov Orders Mine Inspections * Holder: No Decision Yet on 9/11 Trial in New York * Stern Confirms Departure from SEIU * Study: Uninsured Delay Treatment for Heart Symptoms * More Headlines…
Environmentalist, 350.org Founder Bill McKibben on "Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet"
Ahead of Bolivia’s indigenous summit on climate change and the expected unveiling of a Senate climate bill next week, we speak to someone who sounded one of the earliest alarms about global warming. Twenty years ago, environmental activist Bill McKibben wrote The End of Nature, but his warnings went largely unheeded. Now, as people are grappling with the unavoidable effects of climate change and confronting an earth that is suddenly melting, drying, acidifying, flooding and burning in unprecedented ways, Bill McKibben is out with Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet, a new book about what we have to do to survive this brave new world.
Jailed UBS Whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld Makes Tax Day Clemency Request to President Obama
A former banker for the Swiss giant UBS who blew the whistle on the biggest tax evasion scheme in US history is asking President Obama today for clemency to coincide with Tax Day, the day US income tax returns are due for most people. In January, Bradley Birkenfeld began serving a forty-month sentence despite playing a key role in uncovering the bank scandal. He first came forward to US authorities in 2007 and began providing inside information on how UBS was helping thousands of Americans evade taxes by hiding billions of dollars in secret Swiss accounts.
Binghamton, NY Marks Tax Day with City Hall Counter Tallying Cost of Iraq, Afghan Wars
As we continue our Tax Day coverage, we speak to Binghamton, New York Mayor Matt Ryan. He’s taken an unusual step to remind the city’s residents about the expanding costs of the wars. Early next week, the city of Binghamton plans to install a large digital "cost of war" counter on the facade of City Hall. The counter will show that the residents of the city have already spent $138 million on the wars since 2001.
12-Year-Old Des Moines, IA Peace Activist Faces Trespassing Charge for Antiwar Protest at Offices of Sen. Harkin
We turn now to an antiwar mother and daughter from Des Moines, Iowa. Last week, Renee Lynn Espeland was charged with "contributing to the delinquency of a minor" after her twelve-year-old daughter Frankie Hughes refused to leave Senator Tom Harkin’s office while protesting the war funding in the current appropriations bill. This week, the Des Moines police dropped the charges against Espeland, but her daughter still faces a trespassing charge.